Concrete flume.



PATBNTED SEPT. 19, 1905.

W. L. CHURCH. CONCRETE FLUMB.

urucuum FILED JULY 16,1904,

' "uurrso STATES vPATENT OFFICE.

CONCRETE FLUME.

Specification of letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 19, 1905.

A li ti fil d July 16, 1904. Serial No. 216,900.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM L. CHURcI of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Concrete Flumes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to flumes or waterconduits of concrete and steel construction; and its object is to provide a device of this kind embodying a maximum degree of strength and cohesion with the least use of material and expense in construction. I have found that these objects can be attained by embedding in the concrete a series of tie-rods of the independent self-locking type connecting the walls of the flume and irremovably embedded at their ends in said walls and in flanges which are provided for the purpose of affording an anchorage to the rods such that the latter may not be withdrawn by strains within the limit of tensile strength of the rods.

Further features will appear in the succeeding description.

Of the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a perspective sectional view of a portion of a concrete flume constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 represents a detail view of one of several forms of selflocking rod which may be employed.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in both figures.

equivalents.

In the drawings, 10 represents the concrete floor or bottom wall of the flume, and 11 11 the side walls, of a similar material, integral with the floor. It will be understood that the term concrete includes cement and other I have shown the flume in tubular form provided with an integral concrete roof 12, adapting it to withstand the internal pressure of a head of water or an external pressure of earth. The roof will not in all situations be essential as a whole, although I prefer to retain the top horizontal tie-rods and will preferablyv incase them in concrete. To lock together the two pairs of walls at both edges of each pair, I embed in each wall a series of self-locking tie-rods 13 13, extending transversely of the length of the flume. Any one of several, forms of rod will be suitable for this purpose. The one herein shown in detail in Fig. 2 is provided with projections 14 14, which interlock with the concrete and render the bar self-locking therein. Each wall is extended outwardly at each edge from the outer surface of the flume to form projecting integral concrete extensions or flanges 15, in which are embedded the ends of the rods which serve to connect said wall with its opposite wall, there being thus afforded an anchorage to the rods suflicient to make them unwithdrawable by any strains within the limit of tensile strength of the material of which they are composed. For material of the strength of Bessemer steel the distance for embedding the rod within the web of the wall and the flange would be about thirty times the diameter of the rod. It is apparent that this construction affords the requisite strength with a minimum of weight and use of material. The flanges 15, furthermore, impart longitudinal stiffness to the flume. It will be seen that the rods 13 are located on the sides of the walls away from the direction of greatest pressure.

The tie-rods 13 being independent depend for their anchorage on their interlocking with the concrete, and hence there are no metallic joints connecting the said rods with other metallic structure embedded in the walls and subject to deterioration, and there'is on this account an absence of any tendency to cleavage along the plane of such additional structure. Each set of rods, however, contributes to the stability of the wall in which it is embedded and to the connection of said wall as a whole with its opposite wall by means of another set of rods transverse thereto.

Various modifications of the herein-described invention may be made without departing from the essential ideas comprising it.

I claim 1. A flume comprising opposite walls having outwardly-projecting flanges, and a connecting wall, all of concrete and integral with each other, and a series of independent transverse tie-rods connecting said side walls, said tie-rods formed with means interlocking with the concrete and having ends embedded in said flanges.

2. A flume comprising opposite side walls having outwardly-projecting top flanges, and a connecting bottom wall, all of concrete and integral with each other, and a series of independent transverse tie-rods connecting the side walls, said tie-rods having end portions formed to interlock with the concrete and embedded a distance in the side walls and flanges making the tie-rods substantially unwithdrawable.

3. A flume comprising side walls of concrete each having integral therewith a concrete formation projecting laterally beyond the main web of said wall for a rod-anchorage, and a concrete bottom integral with the side walls, and a series of independent transverse tie rods connecting the side walls and having end portions formed to interlock with the side walls and lateral formation and unwithdrawably embedded therein. 7

4. A tubular flume of four integral concrete walls. each extended outwardly from the outer surface of the flume to form outwardly-projecting integral concrete flanges, and independent self-locking transverse tie-rods in each wall unwithdrawably embedded in the walls which they-connect and in the flanges or extensions of said walls.

5. Aflume comprising integral concrete side and bottom walls, and transverse self-lock- WILLIAM L. CHURCH. Witnesses:

A. O. RATIGAN, R. M. PIERSON. 

